Thursday

Blizzard has been battling with third-party fold farming outfits for years and have so far failed to stop the practice but a new pet could be the first step.

Going by the name of the Guardian Cub, the World of Warcraft pet will sell for $10USD via the Blizzard store. There is a difference with this pet and previous pet releases, once it's been purchased it can be either gifted to another player or even sold on for gold in the auction house.

Blizzard has basically introduced a round-about way for World of Warcraft players to buy gold for real money through the new pet."While our goal is to offer players alternative ways to add a Pet Store pet to their collection, we’re ok with it if some players choose to use the Guardian Cub as a safe and secure way to try to acquire a little extra in-game gold without turning to third-party gold-selling services. However, please keep in mind that there’s never any guarantee that someone will purchase what you put up for sale in the auction house, or how much they’ll pay for it."

Whether this new pet will have any impact whatsoever on third-party gold sellers it debatable but it’s an interesting move by Blizzard and could open the door for more transferable items to encourage players to move away from the gold selling companies. A problem arises when the market value of the pet plummets due to a saturated market of pets, at which point Blizard will have to come up with something new.

Since the pet was revealed earlier today, many fans are unhappy with the move as Blizzard has been staunchly against the idea of paying for gold in World of Warcraft, at least in public. With World of Warcraft numbers declining, Blizzard are going to squeeze everything they can from the game, and as the numbers continue to drop, their own staunch rules and regulations will start to bend.

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